Slim the cat awaits nightly treks across Memorial Bridge

KITTERY, Maine — This is a story about a cool cat named Slim. Now Slim, he loves the night, he loves to prowl, he loves the ladies. Pretty soon, this Badger's Island legend will take his nocturnal strolls once again over Memorial Bridge and visit his old haunts in Portsmouth, N.H.

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By Deborah McDermott

seacoastonline.com

By Deborah McDermott

Posted Aug. 8, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Deborah McDermott

Posted Aug. 8, 2013 at 2:00 AM

MEMORIAL BRIDGE PROJECT

Check out our Rebuilding the Memorial Bridge page for a complete look at the project, including photo galleries, ne...

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MEMORIAL BRIDGE PROJECT

Check out our Rebuilding the Memorial Bridge page for a complete look at the project, including photo galleries, news stories and a timeline of events going back to the 2011 closure of the original 1923 bridge.

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KITTERY, Maine — This is a story about a cool cat named Slim. Now Slim, he loves the night, he loves to prowl, he loves the ladies. Pretty soon, this Badger's Island legend will take his nocturnal strolls once again over Memorial Bridge and visit his old haunts in Portsmouth, N.H.

His "person" — "Nobody really can own Slim," said Sean Rooney — is not particularly looking forward to the day — not because he worries about Slim, necessarily. Slim has managed 10 or so years on this Earth dodging traffic just fine. It's more that Rooney will be awakened in the middle of the night again, when someone from Portsmouth reads the tag on the collar and calls him to collect Slim.

"As soon as it opens, where he hasn't been able to go over, he'll probably want to explore," said Rooney, whose apartment is mere feet from the bridge. "I won't be able shut the phone off anymore at night. And ... I'll probably be picking him up again."

That happened more than once when the original bridge was open.

"I was in Pennsylvania once on vacation when I get this phone call. Someone said, 'Do you have a cat named Slim?' I said, 'Yeah.' 'Well,' they said, 'he's in front of The Rosa (restaurant).' The police tried to catch him, but they couldn't. He was home the next day."

Slim apparently confines his prowls to the area right around the bridge — Daniel, Bow and State streets in Portsmouth.

"He doesn't wander too far," Rooney said.

More than once, Rooney has trekked across the bridge at night to collect his wandering cat.

"I'll tell you, the looks I got walking across the bridge with a cat in my arms were pretty unbelievable," he said.

Slim is an orphan of sorts. His previous owner, who lived nearby, left a message on Rooney's car windshield one morning saying she had to move and couldn't take Slim with her, asking whether Rooney would do the honors of watching out for him. And that's really what he does.

"Everyone around here knows Slim and watches out for him. He probably knows everybody at (the Badger's Island company) Green Pages, and there's probably 150 to 200 people there," Rooney said. "He just has my name on his collar."

Slim is a cat of habit. Nine months out of the year, Rooney keeps his bedroom window open and Slim jumps from a nearby deck railing, onto two roofs and in the window. He may deign to watch a little TV with Rooney at night, but he is gone when Rooney wakes in the morning.

On the other hand, he follows Rooney around like a dog when he is outside, and easily comes up to strangers for attention and love.

Slim will usually appear for breakfast and dinner. His favorite dish? Cottage cheese. "He loves it," Rooney said. Often, he comes home with a "present" in his mouth — anything from a snake to mice to, one time, a pigeon who was nearly his size.

"What are you going to do?" Rooney asked. "That's Slim."

People have said they want Slim to be in today's procession from Kittery to Portsmouth that marks the start of the Memorial Bridge opening ceremony.

"Good luck," Rooney said. "I guess if he wants to, he will. But I wouldn't count on it."